President Clinton's portrait unveiled

6.20.2015 01:04

The reception and unveiling of the portrait President Bill Clinton was held at the residence of Ambassador Peter Taksøe-Jensen. Among the many prominent guests were President Bill Clinton, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Artist Gugger Petter, Former Ambassadors of the United States to Denmark, Laurie S. Fulton and Dick Swett, and 7 ambassadors to the United States.

In his speech, President Clinton said:

“So when you look at that portrait, you remember that the portrait is here. Not because I came -on a sunny day- to Denmark. But because, of what we tried to do together to keep Muslims and Catholics from being slaughtered by Serbs in Bosnia. We tried to keep them also from wrecking their revenge when they had a chance to do that.

It is not perfect, but it has held together. Same thing is true in Kosovo. And you will never know, unless you were there, how important Denmark was to them. How, as a proportion of your population, what you gave was the biggest contribution to the peacekeeping force. The values embodied in your politics and in your culture made it possible…

…I am very grateful. Not only for the friendship with your country, and for you being a good neighbour, but for the hope you give to the future. Thank you.”

Ambassador Taksøe-Jensen said in a statement:

“I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Embassy, to thank Gugger Petter for the portrait of President Clinton. The relationship between Denmark and the United States is strong and close. That was confirmed when President Clinton, as the first sitting U.S. president visited Denmark. This portrait symbolizes the strong ties between our two countries, I am very glad that President Clinton agreed to be present at the unveiling of Gugger’s art piece.”

The portrait is hand-woven with newspaper articles from Sunday editions of the Washington Post and the Arkansas Democrat, connecting Clinton’s home in Washington and his home state in the art piece. The Washington Post newspapers have been collected from the Embassy of Denmark and sent to Gugger Petter. The idea of the portrait comes from a similar hand-woven portrait of President Obama and of HRH the Crown Princess of Denmark.

Petter has worked with newspaper as her medium for over twenty years. “My fascination with newspaper consists not only of it being ‘the diary of our lives,’ but it also presents me with a black, white, and limited colour palette, which has always been my choice.” Using a traditional loom to weave tightly rolled strips of newspaper, Petter’s work is a larger-than-life look at aspects or people of our daily lives.

“It has been a privilege for me to work on the portrait of President Clinton, a man that I personally greatly admire, and who also represents my time living in the US. I am happy and deeply honored to leave this portrait in the care of the Danish Embassy, where I hope it will be enjoyed for years to come,” says Gugger Petter.